Semiconductor devices are used in a variety of electronic applications, such as personal computers, cell phones, digital cameras, and other electronic equipment. Semiconductor devices are typically fabricated by sequentially depositing insulating or dielectric layers, conductive layers, and semiconductor layers of material over a semiconductor substrate, and patterning the various material layers using lithography to form circuit components and elements thereon.
One of the important drivers for increased performance in a semiconductor structure is the higher levels of integration of circuits. This is accomplished by miniaturizing or shrinking device sizes on a given chip. As device sizes shrink, tolerances play a more and more important role in the manufacturing process.
Although existing semiconductor manufacturing processes have generally been adequate for their intended purposes, as device scaling-down continues, they have not been entirely satisfactory in all respects.